RELIABLE WITNESSES. A Guide to the Evidence. Part Two

V.J. Ballester-Olmos & Richard W. Heiden (Eds.), The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony, UPIAR Publisher, 2023.

Part One of this review covered the first 17 chapters under the Case Studies section, this part reviews the 12 chapters that look at Psychological Perspectives. Part Three reviews the remaining chapters: On Witness Testimony, Empirical Research, Anthropological Approach, Metrics and Scaling, and Epistemological Issues.

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SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE

Sean Casteel and Tim R. Swartz (editors). Alien Artifacts, Zontar Press, 2022.

This is the first book to be produced by Casteel and Swartz in the wake of Timothy Green Beckley’s unexpected death last year. Like Beckley’s seemingly endless stream of books and publications this volume is a flamboyant mixture of outrageous UFO rumours and stories mixed with a few sober observations about what the blurb on the front cover states is the ‘Incredible Evidence of Exotic Material from UFO Encounters.’

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SCIENCE SAYS ...

Donald R. Prothero and Timothy D. Callahan. UFOs, Chemtrails and Aliens: What Science Says. Indiana University Press, 2017.

Despite the pretentious ‘What Science Says’ subtitle, which rather suggests that Prothero and Callahan have somehow been appointed official spokespersons for ‘Science’ - whatever that may be as a single entity – this book is actually a pretty fair review of the sceptical approach to the subjects listed in the title.

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A HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

Kevin D. Randle. The UFO Dossier: 100 Years of Government Secrets, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups. Visible Ink, 2016.

Kevin Randle obviously considers that some UFO reports are likely to be observations of alien spacecraft, but tries not to be too dogmatic. This is revealed in his obvious reluctance to write off particularly interesting reports as examples of natural phenomena or inaccurate observations.
Although he believes that extraterrestrial contact is a likely explanation for some UFO reports – notably Roswell and Shag Harbour – he finds most of the alleged evidence unconvincing, especially for close encounter and abduction reports.

I-SPY

Here's a puzzle for our eagle-eyed readers in London. The 'flying saucer' in my picture below is a decorative feature on a house somewhere in London. The first person to identify its location will win a copy of We Are Not Alone, Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life, by Dirk Schilze-Makuch, described by John Harney in his review as "a good introduction to astrobiology". 🔻

CRASH, BANG, WALLOP!

Kevin D. Randle, Crash: When UFOs Fall From the Sky, New Page Books, NJ, 2010

The more interesting UFO crash stories in this book will be familiar to most UFO enthusiasts. It is not the stories themselves, but Randle's treatment of them, which is of interest to the keen ufologist. Indeed, one would need to be keen to read through this book and and compare Randle's findings with those of other writers and investigators.

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